Many occasions arise where there is an identified need to store and track individual items or particular types of items. One such circumstance relates to the field of controlled medications (i.e., medicinal products) and, in particular, narcotics as may be administered to patients in a medical facility. Such medications often require refrigeration as well as secure storage. In a typical application, refrigerated narcotics are often stored in small refrigerators at nurse's stations at hospitals. Small refrigerators typically are not designed for security and therefore are not provided with any type of locking mechanism. New requirements set forth by JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) as well as the ever-increasing general need and desire for security dictates both securing and tracking of narcotics.
Absent such required or desired security, any person having access to the nurse's station in such circumstances can simply enter the refrigerator and remove without authorization, or steal, whatever enclosed narcotics they desire. A typical solution to this problem is to install a hasp and padlock on the refrigerator. This solution, however, may present its own problems in that padlocks may be provided with mechanical keys that may be easily lost, duplicated or stolen. When such problems occur, the padlock must be replaced and keys need to be made and distributed. This is a costly process, especially in the context of the time required to perform the distribution of the keys.
A further problem associated with such previous padlock and key security arrangement resides in the fact that since everyone having access to the padlock has a duplicate key, there is no tracking of individuals who may have opened the lock nor is there any record made as to the date and time such access occurred.
Various attempts have been previously made to monitor the activities relative to a controlled enclosure or a controlled collection of materials. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,502 by Frederick et al., entitled “Restocking method for medical item dispensing system”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,816,075 by Grunes et al., entitled “Evidence and property tracking for law enforcement”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,450 by Colson, Jr. et al., entitled “Supply station with internal computer”; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,983,884 by Auchinleck, entitled “Method and apparatus for monitoring transfusion of blood.” The disclosures of all of the foregoing citations are fully incorporated herein by reference, for all purposes.
While various implementations of access control mechanisms have been developed, no design has emerged that generally encompasses all of the desired characteristics as hereafter presented in accordance with the subject technology.